


Inexorable Time

by Gilbird14



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, McHanzo Week 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-28
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:54:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26161474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gilbird14/pseuds/Gilbird14
Summary: It was the little things between missions: the casual touches of their shoulders, the scarce but meaningful words before leaving, the smiles of encouragement, the electricity when they unwillingly touched hands, the looks that spoke the words neither dared to speak... In these moments, time went slower and everything surrounding them faded into the background.Written for McHanzo Week Day 6: Seasons/Time
Relationships: Jesse McCree/Hanzo Shimada
Comments: 5
Kudos: 30





	Inexorable Time

It was the little things between missions: the casual touches of their shoulders, the scarce but meaningful words before leaving, the smiles of encouragement, the electricity when they unwillingly touched hands, the looks that spoke the words neither dared to speak... In these moments, time went slower and everything surrounding them faded into the background. No spurs, no corridors, no metallic door sounds, no light steps, just the two of them. Each time the feeling grew stronger, the will to make these moments last forever, to be frozen in time. How could two men raised in such different backgrounds, forged into different personalities and apparently so distinct from one another wish for the same thing? Easy. They were much more similar than they thought. Their souls knew pain, sorrow and loss like no one else. They were like two drops of water.  
  
A cowboy and an archer, two professions taken out of time, yet both managed to find each other. Huckleberry and Robin Hood, references from past that clung to the present with all they had. The past. None of them were proud of their own. The present was a different matter. They were happy about it, but they wished for changes they did not dare to make. They had walked a long path to be where they were. They were afraid a single misstep would ruin it. Whatever was between them. Both grown men acted like teenagers, but dreamed like children. Both wished for something to happen, but dared not to dwell on it too much. One was convinced it was one-sided and, therefore, he was afraid of rejection. The other was scared of losing his focus and determination, having as an excuse the fear of the one becoming his weakness, not knowing that he already was. The future could be beautiful or dire. Neither could know. Both went on deadly missions frequently. They risked their lives each time. They looked after each other's backs when they were assigned together, but that didn't happen often. They were left to worry when the other left and neither knew when they would come back or if they would. They knew they lived in borrowed time and couldn't do anything to prevent it.  
  
"Time is running against us, darlin'," one finally said one day.  
  
"It is a race we cannot win and we both know it," the other replied trying to make the gunslinger understand. "It's useless."  
  
"It's not about winning. Hell, you know both of us play Russian roulette each time we are sent away. One day we'll run out of luck..."  
  
"Do not say it. I don't want to hear it."  
  
"That's what I'm talking about! We cannot keep being afraid. There is something here. I feel it and, hell, I wish you do too. I..."  
  
"Do not put it into words. You will make it worse!" The archer tried to keep the man in front of him quiet. His efforts were in vain.  
  
"Worse how?! I'll need you to explain me that, darlin', because from my point of view it can't get worse." The bearded man was visibly upset and could not keep anything inside him. It was like seeing a champagne bottle pop and, in consequence, seeing the liquid overflowing. "My chest hurts when you're gone. I can't sleep not knowing if you are okay. My brain keeps telling me you are badly hurt or worse when there's a delay in the mission. I feel sick when I see you injured! I can't stop thinking about you. You have poisoned my mind and my body. It aches when I'm not near you. It craves those little unintentional touches. I miss your suppressed smiles and the look in your eyes. I swear I hear your light steps everywhere. I hope to find you on the training grounds, but you are not there, only the ghost of your memory… When we're apart, it's agony, like a slow painful death. Believe me, it can't get worse!!"  
  
"Of course it can! What will happen to you if I die?! What will happen to me if you do?!" The usually composed archer lost his composure to his more emotional side, his concerns finally voiced aloud.  
  
"You're just being selfish, darlin'. I was afraid of telling you what I felt, but not anymore. I prefer to have loved and lost, than not to love at all. You..."  
  
His words were lost in the air, never to be recovered. The cowboy never finished what he was about to say. The other man didn't let him. It was a waste of time, the very same time that consumes it all, the one that erodes the hardest rocks and melts the toughest hearts, the same time that casts names into oblivion like the ones in this story. However, the inexorable time stopped when both men kissed for the first time, not knowing if it would be the last.


End file.
